Investing.com - U.S. futures pointed to a steady open on Thursday as Wall Street's three major benchmarks attempted to find their footing after suffering a steep Fed-related selloff a day earlier.
The blue-chip Dow futures gained 55 points, or 0.24%, to 23,368.0 points by 6:43 AM ET (10:43 GMT), while S&P 500 futures rose 7 points, or 0.29%, to 2,511.75points. Meanwhile the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded up 25 points, or 0.40%, to 6,337.50.
The Federal Reserve raised rates and forecast an additional two hikes for 2019, disappointing markets that were hoping for an even more dovish policy outlook given the mounting risks for the U.S. economy.
“It appears that risky asset markets wanted a stronger 'put' from the Fed given the ongoing recession obsession taking over the market sentiment,” said Salman Ahmed, global investment strategist at Lombard Odier Investment Managers.
“Concerns in the U.S. about the real estate sector and leveraged loans remain. It's clear that interest rates cannot continue to rise for long without having important consequences for economic growth,” said Edoardo Fusco Femiano, market analyst at brokerage eToro.
Even as U.S. indices struggled to recover, global stocks were feeling the pressure, on track for their worst calendar year since the global crisis.
With no signs of a Santa Claus rally, the Dow and S&P 500 are heading for their worst month of December since the Great Depression. The benchmarks are down 8% and 9%, respectively, so far this month.
On the economic front, investors looked ahead to weekly jobless claims as well as the Philly Fed manufacturing survey both due at 8:30AM ET (13:30 GMT).
Ahead of the data, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against six rival currencies, was down 0.75% to 95.76.
In commodities, gold futures gained 0.28% to $1,259.90 a troy ounce, while crude oil sank 3.22% to $46.62 a barrel.
-- Reuters contributed to this report